Tower Hamlets, please reinstate distribution of recycling sacks

London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which has a poor but, until recently, improving recycling rate, has taken the decision to stop distributing recycling sacks to the 89% of its households who live in flats. Instead, residents will have to collect the sacks once a month from their local libraries, on specific days, providing proof of address. This creates an unnecessary obstacle to recycling, and will further discourage reluctant recyclers.

Recycling rates in the borough will undoubtedly fall, leading to more landfill and harm to the environment. The council should be doing everything in their power to encourage recycling.

The council's response, that residents can buy their own clear sacks, or place loose items straight in communal recycling paladins, is not adequate:• Large clear sacks are not easy to come by, and this is a solution that only keen recyclers will pursue.• Paladins are frequently (usually) full to overflowing, so placing loose items in them is not practical, and will lead to litter as items fall out or blow away.

I ask the council to rethink this short-sighted idea and put the environment first.